Better on our own - English

Burglary

I actually wanted to go back to work on Friday, like everyone else did. Sam and Penny went too, Cody had to go to school and Sarah, who had skipped the last three days to stay with me, had also gone back to the academy.

But Sarah had insisted that I should rest and Penny had made it very clear to me that she didn't want to see me at the station until Monday because I needed to get some rest.

Perfect! I'd been bored for half the day because I'd been woken up by the morning hustle and bustle the four of them had put on until they got out of the house. I would never have thought that two more people in the house could cause such a disturbance. With Penny and Cody, everything was always perfectly structured in the morning. Now it seemed like pure chaos.

At some point I decided to make myself a little useful. The result was that I had clogged the vacuum cleaner with one of Cody's socks, the dishwasher had popped open while it was washing and flooded half the kitchen, and one of Sam's shirts now had the mark of an iron on the chest and was still lying under the couch where I had stuffed it because Penny had come home at that exact moment and hadn't given me a chance to retrieve it and make it disappear.

I really still had a lot to learn! But at least I wasn't to blame for the dishwasher, as I had feared, because Penny quickly found the fault in the electronics and wanted to repair it today. Sarah, on the other hand, had suggested going swimming this morning, which I didn't like at all. But we had talked about my experiences in the lake so often during the last days that I suspected that she was doing this specifically - what did she say so beautifully? If you fall off a horse, you have to get right back on.

Cody was excited and had asked if he could come with us. How could I have disappointed him and we were both all the happier that Sarah had no problem entertaining her little cousin while Sam offered to help Penny repair the dishwasher.

My mind raced all day, imagining countless scenarios of how the two of them could - and hopefully would - get closer to each other through this simple task! I was still so excited for a happy ending for both of them that I even forgot my initial panic about water and was able to frolic with them in the swimming pool again pretty quickly. It was only when I was diving that I somehow always had a panic attack and made sure I got back up to the surface straight away. Sarah acknowledged this with a smile, while Cody was having so much fun that he didn't even notice. Fortunately! That would make me look pretty stupid if he realized I was afraid of diving. Then the cool big buddy image would be over!

I later invited them both for burgers at a well-known fast food restaurant before we headed home. My exuberant mood really died down when we pulled up to the house and I saw the front door standing open. I couldn't help it and no matter how trivial the reasons might be, it gave me goosebumps.

"Why is the front door open?" Cody interjected, confused, after he jumped out of the car and wanted to run in to enthusiastically tell his parents about our day. But he stopped halfway and turned to us when he noticed what had already caught my eye. I just shrugged and motioned for him to continue on our way, but still took him by the hand before we entered the house. At least I had him with me and would be able to get him to safety if the need arose.

At first we didn't notice anything unusual when we entered, except that the house was quiet, and I closed the door behind us - or at least tried to. Only now did I notice that the lock no longer clicked into place and I took a closer look at it. It had been drilled out.

In a panic, I looked at Sarah, who was already walking away and I hoped that the alleged burglar had left the house by now. The door had to have been open for a while because it was pretty cold in the hallway, almost as cold as outside.

"My goodness, what happened here?" Sarah gasped in shock when she was level with the kitchen and living room door and I walked over to her, still with Cody on my hand, who suddenly also seemed quite unsure. We were both shocked when we saw that all the drawers and doors in all the cupboards were open. Some drawers had even been torn out and their contents were scattered across the floor. It looked like something had blown the furniture from the inside.